FreeBSD has many noteworthy features. Some of these are:

FreeBSD is based on the 4.4BSD-Lite release from Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California at Berkeley, and carries on the distinguished tradition of BSD systems development. In addition to the fine work provided by CSRG, the FreeBSD Project has put in many thousands of hours in fine tuning the system for maximum performance and reliability in real-life load situations. As many of the commercial giants struggle to field PC operating systems with such features, performance and reliability, FreeBSD can offer them now!

The applications to which FreeBSD can be put are truly limited only by your own imagination. From software development to factory automation, inventory control to azimuth correction of remote satellite antennae; if it can be done with a commercial UNIX® product then it is more than likely that you can do it with FreeBSD too! FreeBSD also benefits significantly from literally thousands of high quality applications developed by research centers and universities around the world, often available at little to no cost. Commercial applications are also available and appearing in greater numbers every day.

Because the source code for FreeBSD itself is generally available, the system can also be customized to an almost unheard of degree for special applications or projects, and in ways not generally possible with operating systems from most major commercial vendors. Here is just a sampling of some of the applications in which people are currently using FreeBSD:

FreeBSD is available in both source and binary form on CD-ROM, DVD, and via anonymous FTP. Please see Appendix A, Obtaining FreeBSD for more information about obtaining FreeBSD.

FreeBSD is used as a platform for devices and products from many of the world's largest IT companies, including:

FreeBSD is also used to power some of the biggest sites on the Internet, including:

and many more.

The FreeBSD Project had its genesis in the early part of 1993, partially as an outgrowth of the Unofficial 386BSDPatchkit by the patchkit's last 3 coordinators: Nate Williams, Rod Grimes and Jordan Hubbard.

The original goal was to produce an intermediate snapshot of 386BSD in order to fix a number of problems with it that the patchkit mechanism just was not capable of solving. The early working title for the project was 386BSD 0.5 or 386BSD Interim in reference of that fact.

386BSD was Bill Jolitz's operating system, which had been up to that point suffering rather severely from almost a year's worth of neglect. As the patchkit swelled ever more uncomfortably with each passing day, they decided to assist Bill by providing this interim “cleanup” snapshot. Those plans came to a rude halt when Bill Jolitz suddenly decided to withdraw his sanction from the project without any clear indication of what would be done instead.

The trio thought that the goal remained worthwhile, even without Bill's support, and so they adopted the name "FreeBSD" coined by David Greenman. The initial objectives were set after consulting with the system's current users and, once it became clear that the project was on the road to perhaps even becoming a reality, Jordan contacted Walnut Creek CDROM with an eye toward improving FreeBSD's distribution channels for those many unfortunates without easy access to the Internet. Walnut Creek CDROM not only supported the idea of distributing FreeBSD on CD but also went so far as to provide the project with a machine to work on and a fast Internet connection. Without Walnut Creek CDROM's almost unprecedented degree of faith in what was, at the time, a completely unknown project, it is quite unlikely that FreeBSD would have gotten as far, as fast, as it has today.

The first CD-ROM (and general net-wide) distribution was FreeBSD 1.0, released in December of 1993. This was based on the 4.3BSD-Lite (“Net/2”) tape from U.C. Berkeley, with many components also provided by 386BSD and the Free Software Foundation. It was a fairly reasonable success for a first offering, and they followed it with the highly successful FreeBSD 1.1 release in May of 1994.

Around this time, some rather unexpected storm clouds formed on the horizon as Novell and U.C. Berkeley settled their long-running lawsuit over the legal status of the Berkeley Net/2 tape. A condition of that settlement was U.C. Berkeley's concession that large parts of Net/2 were “encumbered” code and the property of Novell, who had in turn acquired it from AT&T some time previously. What Berkeley got in return was Novell's “blessing” that the 4.4BSD-Lite release, when it was finally released, would be declared unencumbered and all existing Net/2 users would be strongly encouraged to switch. This included FreeBSD, and the project was given until the end of July 1994 to stop shipping its own Net/2 based product. Under the terms of that agreement, the project was allowed one last release before the deadline, that release being FreeBSD 1.1.5.1.

FreeBSD then set about the arduous task of literally re-inventing itself from a completely new and rather incomplete set of 4.4BSD-Lite bits. The “Lite” releases were light in part because Berkeley's CSRG had removed large chunks of code required for actually constructing a bootable running system (due to various legal requirements) and the fact that the Intel port of 4.4 was highly incomplete. It took the project until November of 1994 to make this transition, at which point it released FreeBSD 2.0 to the net and on CD-ROM (in late December). Despite being still more than a little rough around the edges, the release was a significant success and was followed by the more robust and easier to install FreeBSD 2.0.5 release in June of 1995.

Since that time, FreeBSD has made a series of releases each time improving the stability, speed, and feature set of the previous version.

For now, long-term development projects continue to take place in the 10.X-CURRENT (trunk) branch, and snapshot releases of 10.X are continually made available from the snapshot server as work progresses.

The goals of the FreeBSD Project are to provide software that may be used for any purpose and without strings attached. Many of us have a significant investment in the code (and project) and would certainly not mind a little financial compensation now and then, but we are definitely not prepared to insist on it. We believe that our first and foremost “mission” is to provide code to any and all comers, and for whatever purpose, so that the code gets the widest possible use and provides the widest possible benefit. This is, I believe, one of the most fundamental goals of Free Software and one that we enthusiastically support.

That code in our source tree which falls under the GNU General Public License (GPL) or Library General Public License (LGPL) comes with slightly more strings attached, though at least on the side of enforced access rather than the usual opposite. Due to the additional complexities that can evolve in the commercial use of GPL software we do, however, prefer software submitted under the more relaxed BSD copyright when it is a reasonable option to do so.

The development of FreeBSD is a very open and flexible process, being literally built from the contributions of hundreds of people around the world, as can be seen from our list of contributors. FreeBSD's development infrastructure allow these hundreds of developers to collaborate over the Internet. We are constantly on the lookout for new developers and ideas, and those interested in becoming more closely involved with the project need simply contact us at the FreeBSD technical discussions mailing list. The FreeBSD announcements mailing list is also available to those wishing to make other FreeBSD users aware of major areas of work.

Useful things to know about the FreeBSD Project and its development process, whether working independently or in close cooperation:

In summary, our development model is organized as a loose set of concentric circles. The centralized model is designed for the convenience of the users of FreeBSD, who are provided with an easy way of tracking one central code base, not to keep potential contributors out! Our desire is to present a stable operating system with a large set of coherent application programs that the users can easily install and use — this model works very well in accomplishing that.

All we ask of those who would join us as FreeBSD developers is some of the same dedication its current people have to its continued success!

In addition to the base distributions, FreeBSD offers a ported software collection with thousands of commonly sought-after programs. At the time of this writing, there were over 24,000 ports! The list of ports ranges from http servers, to games, languages, editors, and almost everything in between. The entire Ports Collection requires approximately 500 MB. To compile a port, you simply change to the directory of the program you wish to install, type make install, and let the system do the rest. The full original distribution for each port you build is retrieved dynamically so you need only enough disk space to build the ports you want. Almost every port is also provided as a pre-compiled “package”, which can be installed with a simple command (pkg_add) by those who do not wish to compile their own ports from source. More information on packages and ports can be found in Chapter 5, Installing Applications: Packages and Ports.

All recent FreeBSD versions provide an option in the installer (either sysinstall(8) or bsdinstall(8)) to install additional documentation under /usr/local/share/doc/freebsd during the initial system setup. Documentation may also be installed at any later time using packages as described in Section 24.4.6.2, “Using Documentation Packages”. You may view the locally installed manuals with any HTML capable browser using the following URLs:

You can also view the master (and most frequently updated) copies at http://www.FreeBSD.org/.

The minimal configuration to install FreeBSD varies with the FreeBSD version and the hardware architecture.

A summary of this information is given in the following sections. Depending on the method you choose to install FreeBSD, you may also need a supported CDROM drive, and in some cases a network adapter. This will be covered by Section 2.3.5, “Prepare the Installation Media”.

Hardware architectures and devices supported by a FreeBSD release are listed in the Hardware Notes file. Usually named HARDWARE.TXT, the file is located in the root directory of the release media. Copies of the supported hardware list are also available on the Release Information page of the FreeBSD web site.

Back up all important data on the target computer where FreeBSD will be installed. Test the backups before continuing. The FreeBSD installer will ask before making changes to the disk, but once the process has started it cannot be undone.

If FreeBSD will be the only operating system installed, and will be allowed to use the entire hard disk, the rest of this section can be skipped. But if FreeBSD will share the disk with other operating systems, an understanding of disk layout is useful during the installation.

Some FreeBSD installation methods need a network connection to download files. To connect to an Ethernet network (or cable or DSL modem with an Ethernet interface), the installer will request some information about the network.

DHCP is commonly used to provide automatic network configuration. If DHCP is not available, this network information must be obtained from the local network administrator or service provider:

Although the FreeBSD Project strives to ensure that each release of FreeBSD is as stable as possible, bugs occasionally creep into the process. On very rare occasions those bugs affect the installation process. As these problems are discovered and fixed, they are noted in the FreeBSD Errata on the FreeBSD web site. Check the errata before installing to make sure that there are no problems that might affect the installation.

Information and errata for all the releases can be found on the release information section of the FreeBSD web site.

A FreeBSD installation is started by booting the computer with a FreeBSD installation CD, DVD, or USB memory stick. The installer is not a program that can be run from within another operating system.

In addition to the standard installation media which contains copies of all the FreeBSD installation files, there is a bootonly variant. Bootonly install media does not have copies of the installation files, but downloads them from the network during an install. The bootonly install CD is consequently much smaller, and reduces bandwidth usage during the install by only downloading required files.

Copies of FreeBSD installation media are available at the FreeBSD web site.

FreeBSD CD and DVD images are bootable ISO files. Only one CD or DVD is needed for an install. Burn the ISO image to a bootable CD or DVD using the CD recording applications available with your current operating system.

To create a bootable memory stick, follow these steps:

You are now ready to start installing FreeBSD.

The last few hundred lines that have been displayed on screen are stored and can be reviewed.

To review the buffer, press Scroll Lock. This turns on scrolling in the display. You can then use the arrow keys, or PageUp and PageDown to view the results. Press Scroll Lock again to stop scrolling.

Do this now, to review the text that scrolled off the screen when the kernel was carrying out the device probes. You will see text similar to Figure 2.2, “Typical Device Probe Results”, although the precise text will differ depending on the devices that you have in your computer.

Check the probe results carefully to make sure that FreeBSD found all the devices you expected. If a device was not found, then it will not be listed. Kernel modules allows you to add in support for devices which are not in the GENERIC kernel.

After the procedure of device probing, you will see Figure 2.3, “Selecting Installation Media Mode”. The install media can be used in three ways: to install FreeBSD, as a live CD, or to simply access a FreeBSD shell. Use the arrow keys to choose an option, and Enter to select.

Figure 2.3. Selecting Installation Media Mode

Selecting [ Install ] here will enter the installer.

Depending on the system console being used, bsdinstall may initially prompt to select a non-default keyboard layout.

Figure 2.4. Keymap Selection

If [ YES ] is selected, the following keyboard selection screen will be displayed. Otherwise, this selection menu will not be displayed, and a default keyboard mapping will be used.

Figure 2.5. Selecting Keyboard Menu

Select the keymap that most closely represents the mapping of the keyboard attached to the system, using the up/down arrow keys and pressing Enter.

Next, bsdinstall will prompt for the hostname to be given to the newly installed system.

Figure 2.6. Setting the Hostname

The entered hostname should be a fully-qualified hostname, such as machine3.example.com

Next, bsdinstall will prompt to select optional components to install.

Figure 2.7. Selecting Components to Install

Deciding which components to install will depend largely on the intended use of the system and the amount of disk space available. The FreeBSD Kernel and userland (collectively the “base system”) are always installed.

Depending on the type of installation, some of these components may not appear.

If multiple disks are connected, choose the one where FreeBSD is to be installed.

Figure 2.11. Selecting from Multiple Disks

The entire disk can be allocated to FreeBSD, or just a portion of it. If [ Entire Disk ] is chosen, a general partition layout filling the whole disk is created. Selecting [ Partition ] creates a partition layout in unused space on the disk.

Figure 2.12. Selecting Entire Disk or Partition

After the partition layout has been created, review it carefully for accuracy. If a mistake has been made, selecting [ Revert ] will reset the partitions as they were previously, or [ Auto ] will recreate the automatic FreeBSD partitions. Partitions can be manually created, modified, or deleted. When the partitioning is correct, select [ Finish ] to continue with the installation.

Figure 2.13. Review Created Partitions

Manual partitioning goes straight to the partition editor.

Figure 2.14. Manually Create Partitions

Highlighting a drive (ada0 in this example) and selecting [ Create ] displays a menu for choosing the type of partitioning scheme.

Figure 2.15. Manually Create Partitions

GPT partitioning is usually the most appropriate choice for PC-compatible computers. Older PC operating systems that are not compatible with GPT may require MBR partitioning instead. The other partitioning schemes are generally used for uncommon or older computer systems.

After the partitioning scheme has been selected and created, selecting [ Create ] again will create new partitions.

Figure 2.16. Manually Create Partitions

A standard FreeBSD GPT installation uses at least three partitions:

Another partition type worth noting is freebsd-zfs, used for partitions that will contain a FreeBSD ZFS filesystem. See Section 21.2, “The Z File System (ZFS)”. gpart(8) shows more of the available GPT partition types.

Multiple filesystem partitions can be used, and some people may prefer a traditional layout with separate partitions for the /, /var, /tmp, and /usr filesystems. See Example 2.3, “Creating Traditional Split Filesystem Partitions” for an example.

Size may be entered with common abbreviations: K for kilobytes, M for megabytes, or G for gigabytes.

A mountpoint is needed if this partition will contain a filesystem. If only a single UFS partition will be created, the mountpoint should be /.

A label is also requested. A label is a name by which this partition will be known. Drive names or numbers can change if the drive is connected to a different controller or port, but the partition label does not change. Referring to labels instead of drive names and partition numbers in files like /etc/fstab makes the system more tolerant of changing hardware. GPT labels appear in /dev/gpt/ when a disk is attached. Other partitioning schemes have different label capabilities, and their labels appear in different directories in /dev/.

After the custom partitions have been created, select [ Finish ] to continue with the installation.

The root password must be set. Note that while entering the password, the characters being typed are not displayed on the screen. After the password has been entered, it must be entered again. This helps prevent typing errors.

Figure 2.21. Setting the root Password

After the password has been successfully entered, the installation will continue.

A list of all the network interfaces found on the computer is shown next. Select one to be configured.

Figure 2.22. Choose a Network Interface

2.9.2.1. Configuring a Wireless Network Interface

If a wireless network interface is chosen, wireless identification and security parameters must be entered to allow it to connect to the network.

Wireless networks are identified by a Service Set Identifier, or SSID. The SSID is a short, unique name given to each network.

Most wireless networks encrypt transmitted data to protect information from unauthorized viewing. WPA2 encryption is strongly recommended. Older encryption types, like WEP, offer very little security.

The first step in connecting to a wireless network is to scan for wireless access points.

Figure 2.23. Scanning for Wireless Access Points

SSIDs found during the scan are listed, followed by a description of the encryption types available for that network. If the desired SSID does not appear in the list, select [ Rescan ] to scan again. If the desired network still does not appear, check for problems with antenna connections or try moving the computer closer to the access point. Rescan after each change is made.

Figure 2.24. Choosing a Wireless Network

The encryption information for connecting to the selected wireless network is entered after selecting the network. With WPA2, only a password (also known as the Pre-Shared Key, or PSK) is needed. Characters typed into the input box are shown as asterisks for security.

Figure 2.25. WPA2 Setup

Network configuration continues after selection of the wireless network and entry of the connection information.

2.9.2.2. Configuring IPv4 Networking

Choose whether IPv4 networking is to be used. This is the most common type of network connection.

Figure 2.26. Choose IPv4 Networking

There are two methods of IPv4 configuration. DHCP will automatically configure the network interface correctly, and is the preferred method. Static configuration requires manual entry of network information.

Note:

Do not enter random network information, as it will not work. Obtain the information shown in Section 2.3.3, “Collect Network Information” from the network administrator or service provider.

2.9.2.2.1. IPv4 DHCP Network Configuration

If a DHCP server is available, select [ Yes ] to automatically configure the network interface.

Figure 2.27. Choose IPv4 DHCP Configuration

2.9.2.2.2. IPv4 Static Network Configuration

Static configuration of the network interface requires entry of some IPv4 information.

Figure 2.28. IPv4 Static Configuration

• IP Address - The manually-assigned IPv4 address to be assigned to this computer. This address must be unique and not already in use by another piece of equipment on the local network.

• Subnet Mask - The subnet mask used for the local network. Typically, this is 255.255.255.0.

• Default Router - The IP address of the default router on this network. Usually this is the address of the router or other network equipment that connects the local network to the Internet. Also known as the default gateway.

2.9.2.3. Configuring IPv6 Networking

IPv6 is a newer method of network configuration. If IPv6 is available and desired, choose [ Yes ] to select it.

Figure 2.29. Choose IPv6 Networking

IPv6 also has two methods of configuration. SLAAC , or StateLess Address AutoConfiguration, will automatically configure the network interface correctly. Static configuration requires manual entry of network information.

2.9.2.3.1. IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration

SLAAC allows an IPv6 network component to request autoconfiguration information from a local router. See RFC4862 for more information.

Figure 2.30. Choose IPv6 SLAAC Configuration

2.9.2.3.2. IPv6 Static Network Configuration

Static configuration of the network interface requires entry of the IPv6 configuration information.

Figure 2.31. IPv6 Static Configuration

• IPv6 Address - The manually-assigned IP address to be assigned to this computer. This address must be unique and not already in use by another piece of equipment on the local network.

• Default Router - The IPv6 address of the default router on this network. Usually this is the address of the router or other network equipment that connects the local network to the Internet. Also known as the default gateway.

2.9.2.4. Configuring DNS

The Domain Name System (or DNS) Resolver converts hostnames to and from network addresses. If DHCP or SLAAC was used to autoconfigure the network interface, the Resolver Configuration values may already be present. Otherwise, enter the local network's domain name in the Search field. DNS #1 and DNS #2 are the IP addresses for the local DNS servers. At least one DNS server is required.

Figure 2.32. DNS Configuration

Setting the time zone for your machine will allow it to automatically correct for any regional time changes and perform other time zone related functions properly.

The example shown is for a machine located in the Eastern time zone of the United States. Your selections will vary according to your geographical location.

Figure 2.33. Select Local or UTC Clock

Select [ Yes ] or [ No ] according to how the machine's clock is configured and press Enter. If you do not know whether the system uses UTC or local time, select [ No ] to choose the more commonly-used local time.

Figure 2.34. Select a Region

The appropriate region is selected using the arrow keys and then pressing Enter.

Figure 2.35. Select a Country

Select the appropriate country using the arrow keys and press Enter.

Figure 2.36. Select a Time Zone

The appropriate time zone is selected using the arrow keys and pressing Enter.

Figure 2.37. Confirm Time Zone

Confirm the abbreviation for the time zone is correct. If it looks okay, press Enter to continue with the post-installation configuration.

Additional system services which will be started at boot can be enabled. All of these services are optional.

Figure 2.38. Selecting Additional Services to Enable

bsdinstall will prompt if crash dumps should be enabled on the target system. Enabling crash dumps can be very useful in debugging issues with the system, so users are encouraged to enable crash dumps whenever possible. Select [ Yes ] to enable crash dumps, or [ No ] to proceed without crash dumps enabled.

Figure 2.39. Enabling Crash Dumps

Adding at least one user during the installation allows the system to be used without being logged in as root. When logged in as root, there are essentially no limits or protection on what can be done. Logging in as a normal user is safer and more secure.

Select [ Yes ] to add new users.

Figure 2.40. Add User Accounts

Enter the information for the user to be added.

Figure 2.41. Enter User Information

After entering everything, a summary is shown, and the system asks if it is correct. If a mistake was made during entry, enter no and try again. If everything is correct, enter yes to create the new user.

Figure 2.42. Exit User and Group Management

If there are more users to add, answer the "Add another user?" question with yes. Enter no to finish adding users and continue the installation.

For more information on adding users and user management, see Chapter 14, Users and Basic Account Management.

After everything has been installed and configured, a final chance is provided to modify settings.

Figure 2.43. Final Configuration

Use this menu to make any changes or do any additional configuration before completing the installation.

After any final configuration is complete, select Exit to leave the installation.

Figure 2.44. Manual Configuration

bsdinstall will prompt if there are any additional configuration that needs to be done before rebooting into the new system. Select [ Yes ] to exit to a shell within the new system, or [ No ] to proceed to the last step of the installation.

Figure 2.45. Complete the Installation

If further configuration or special setup is needed, selecting [ Live CD ] will boot the install media into Live CD mode.

When the installation is complete, select [ Reboot ] to reboot the computer and start the new FreeBSD system. Do not forget to remove the FreeBSD install CD, DVD, or USB memory stick, or the computer may boot from it again.

Proper shutdown of a FreeBSD computer helps protect data and even hardware from damage. Do not just turn off the power. If the user is a member of the wheel group, become the superuser by typing su at the command line and entering the root password. Otherwise, log in as root and use shutdown -p now. The system will close down cleanly and turn itself off.

The Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination can be used to reboot the system, but is not recommended during normal operation.

Due to various limitations of the PC architecture, it is impossible for probing to be 100% reliable, however, there are a few things you can do if it fails.

Check the Hardware Notes document for your version of FreeBSD to make sure your hardware is supported.

If your hardware is supported and you still experience lock-ups or other problems, you will need to build a custom kernel. This will allow you to add in support for devices which are not present in the GENERIC kernel. The kernel on the boot disks is configured assuming that most hardware devices are in their factory default configuration in terms of IRQs, IO addresses, and DMA channels. If your hardware has been reconfigured, you will most likely need to edit the kernel configuration and recompile to tell FreeBSD where to find things.

It is also possible that a probe for a device not present will cause a later probe for another device that is present to fail. In that case, the probes for the conflicting driver(s) should be disabled.

The minimal configuration to install FreeBSD varies with the FreeBSD version and the hardware architecture.

A summary of this information is given in the following sections. Depending on the method chosen to install FreeBSD, a floppy drive, CDROM drive, or network adapter may be needed. Instructions on how to prepare the installation media can be found in Section 3.3.7, “Prepare the Boot Media”.

A list of supported hardware is provided with each FreeBSD release in the FreeBSD Hardware Notes. This document can usually be found in a file named HARDWARE.TXT, in the top-level directory of a CDROM or FTP distribution, or in sysinstall(8)'s documentation menu. It lists, for a given architecture, which hardware devices are known to be supported by each release of FreeBSD. Copies of the supported hardware list for various releases and architectures can also be found on the Release Information page of the FreeBSD website.

Before installing FreeBSD it is recommended to inventory the components in the computer. The FreeBSD installation routines will show components such as hard disks, network cards, and CDROM drives with their model number and manufacturer. FreeBSD will also attempt to determine the correct configuration for these devices, including information about IRQ and I/O port usage. Due to the vagaries of computer hardware, this process is not always completely successful, and FreeBSD may need some manual configuration.

If another operating system is already installed, use the facilities provided by that operating systems to view the hardware configuration. If the settings of an expansion card are not obvious, check if they are printed on the card itself. Popular IRQ numbers are 3, 5, and 7, and I/O port addresses are normally written as hexadecimal numbers, such as 0x330.

It is recommended to print or write down this information before installing FreeBSD. It may help to use a table, as seen in this example:

Once the inventory of the components in the computer is complete, check if it matches the hardware requirements of the FreeBSD release to install.

If the computer contains valuable data, ensure it is backed up, and that the backup has been tested before installing FreeBSD. The FreeBSD installer will prompt before writing any data to disk, but once that process has started, it cannot be undone.

If FreeBSD is to be installed on the entire hard disk, skip this section.

However, if FreeBSD will co-exist with other operating systems, a rough understanding of how data is laid out on the disk is useful.

Before installing from an FTP site or an NFS server, make note of the network configuration. The installer will prompt for this information so that it can connect to the network to complete the installation.

Although the FreeBSD Project strives to ensure that each release of FreeBSD is as stable as possible, bugs do occasionally creep into the process. On rare occasions those bugs affect the installation process. As these problems are discovered and fixed, they are noted in the FreeBSD Errata, which is found on the FreeBSD website. Check the errata before installing to make sure that there are no late-breaking problems to be aware of.

Information about all releases, including the errata for each release, can be found on the release information section of the FreeBSD website.

The FreeBSD installer can install FreeBSD from files located in any of the following places:

If installing from a purchased FreeBSD CD/DVD, skip ahead to Section 3.3.7, “Prepare the Boot Media”.

To obtain the FreeBSD installation files, skip ahead to Section 3.13, “Preparing Custom Installation Media” which explains how to prepare the installation media. After reading that section, come back here and read on to Section 3.3.7, “Prepare the Boot Media”.

The FreeBSD installation process is started by booting the computer into the FreeBSD installer. It is not a program that can be run within another operating system. The computer normally boots using the operating system installed on the hard disk, but it can also be configured to boot from a CDROM or from a USB disk.

To create a bootable memory stick, follow these steps:

To create the boot floppy images for a FreeBSD/pc98 installation, follow these steps:

You are now ready to start installing FreeBSD.

The last few hundred lines that have been displayed on screen are stored and can be reviewed.

To review this buffer, press Scroll Lock to turn on scrolling in the display. Use the arrow keys or PageUp and PageDown to view the results. Press Scroll Lock again to stop scrolling.

Do this now, to review the text that scrolled off the screen when the kernel was carrying out the device probes. Text similar to Figure 3.2, “Typical Device Probe Results” will be displayed, although it will differ depending on the devices in the computer.

Check the probe results carefully to make sure that FreeBSD found all the devices. If a device was not found, it will not be listed. A custom kernel can be used to add in support for devices which are not in the GENERIC kernel.

After the device probe, the menu shown in Figure 3.3, “Selecting Country Menu” will be displayed. Use the arrow key to choose a country, region, or group. Then press Enter to set the country.

Figure 3.3. Selecting Country Menu

If United States is selected as the country, the standard American keyboard map will be used. If a different country is chosen, the following menu will be displayed. Use the arrow keys to choose the correct keyboard map and press Enter.

Figure 3.4. Selecting Keyboard Menu

After the country selection, the sysinstall(8) main menu will display.

From the Main Menu, select Doc with the arrow keys and press Enter.

Figure 3.6. Selecting Documentation Menu

This will display the Documentation Menu.

Figure 3.7. Sysinstall Documentation Menu

It is important to read the documents provided. To view a document, select it with the arrow keys and press Enter. When finished reading a document, press Enter to return to the Documentation Menu.

To return to the Main Installation Menu, select Exit with the arrow keys and press Enter.

To change the keyboard mapping, use the arrow keys to select Keymap from the menu and press Enter. This is only required when using a non-standard or non-US keyboard.

Figure 3.8. Sysinstall Main Menu

A different keyboard mapping may be chosen by selecting the menu item using the up and down arrow keys and pressing Space. Pressing Space again will unselect the item. When finished, choose the [ OK ] using the arrow keys and press Enter.

Only a partial list is shown in this screen representation. Selecting [ Cancel ] by pressing Tab will use the default keymap and return to the Main Install Menu.

Figure 3.9. Sysinstall Keymap Menu

Select Options and press Enter.

Figure 3.10. Sysinstall Main Menu

Figure 3.11. Sysinstall Options

The default values are usually fine for most users and do not need to be changed. The release name will vary according to the version being installed.

The description of the selected item will appear at the bottom of the screen highlighted in blue. Notice that one of the options is Use Defaults to reset all values to startup defaults.

Press F1 to read the help screen about the various options.

Press Q to return to the Main Install menu.

The Standard installation is the option recommended for those new to UNIX® or FreeBSD. Use the arrow keys to select Standard and then press Enter to start the installation.

Figure 3.12. Begin Standard Installation

Before installing and configuring FreeBSD it is important to be aware how FreeBSD deals with BIOS drive mappings.

In a PC running a BIOS-dependent operating system such as Microsoft® Windows®, the BIOS is able to abstract the normal disk drive order and the operating system goes along with the change. This allows the user to boot from a disk drive other than the "primary master". This is especially convenient for users buy an identical second hard drive, and perform routine copies of the first drive to the second drive. If the first drive fails, is attacked by a virus, or is scribbled upon by an operating system defect, they can easily recover by instructing the BIOS to logically swap the drives. It is like switching the cables on the drives, without having to open the case.

Systems with SCSI controllers often include BIOS extensions which allow the SCSI drives to be re-ordered in a similar fashion for up to seven drives.

A user who is accustomed to taking advantage of these features may become surprised when the results with FreeBSD are not as expected. FreeBSD does not use the BIOS, and does not know the “logical BIOS drive mapping”. This can lead to perplexing situations, especially when drives are physically identical in geometry and have been made as data clones of one another.

When using FreeBSD, always restore the BIOS to natural drive numbering before installing FreeBSD, and then leave it that way. If drives need to be switched around, take the time to open the case and move the jumpers and cables.

After choosing to begin a standard installation in sysinstall(8), this message will appear:

Press Enter and a list of all the hard drives that the kernel found when it carried out the device probes will be displayed. Figure 3.13, “Select Drive for FDisk” shows an example from a system with two IDE disks called ad0 and ad2.

Figure 3.13. Select Drive for FDisk

Note that ad1 is not listed here.

Consider two IDE hard disks where one is the master on the first IDE controller and one is the master on the second IDE controller. If FreeBSD numbered these as ad0 and ad1, everything would work.

But if a third disk is later added as the slave device on the first IDE controller, it would now be ad1, and the previous ad1 would become ad2. Because device names are used to find filesystems, some filesystems may no longer appear correctly, requiring a change to the FreeBSD configuration.

To work around this, the kernel can be configured to name IDE disks based on where they are and not the order in which they were found. With this scheme, the master disk on the second IDE controller will always be ad2, even if there are no ad0 or ad1 devices.

This configuration is the default for the FreeBSD kernel, which is why the display in this example shows ad0 and ad2. The machine on which this screenshot was taken had IDE disks on both master channels of the IDE controllers and no disks on the slave channels.

Select the disk on which to install FreeBSD, and then press [ OK ]. FDisk will start, with a display similar to that shown in Figure 3.14, “Typical Default FDisk Partitions”.

The FDisk display is broken into three sections.

The first section, covering the first two lines of the display, shows details about the currently selected disk, including its FreeBSD name, the disk geometry, and the total size of the disk.

The second section shows the slices that are currently on the disk, where they start and end, how large they are, the name FreeBSD gives them, and their description and sub-type. This example shows two small unused slices which are artifacts of disk layout schemes on the PC. It also shows one large FAT slice, which appears as C: in Windows®, and an extended slice, which may contain other drive letters in Windows®.

The third section shows the commands that are available in FDisk.

Figure 3.14. Typical Default FDisk Partitions

This step varies, depending on how the disk is to be sliced.

To install FreeBSD to the entire disk, which will delete all the other data on this disk, press A, which corresponds to the Use Entire Disk option. The existing slices will be removed and replaced with a small area flagged as unused and one large slice for FreeBSD. Then, select the newly created FreeBSD slice using the arrow keys and press S to mark the slice as being bootable. The screen will then look similar to Figure 3.15, “Fdisk Partition Using Entire Disk”. Note the A in the Flags column, which indicates that this slice is active, and will be booted from.

If an existing slice needs to be deleted to make space for FreeBSD, select the slice using the arrow keys and press D. Then, press C to be prompted for the size of the slice to create. Enter the appropriate value and press Enter. The default value in this box represents the largest possible slice to make, which could be the largest contiguous block of unallocated space or the size of the entire hard disk.

If you have already made space for FreeBSD then you can press C to create a new slice. Again, you will be prompted for the size of slice you would like to create.

Figure 3.15. Fdisk Partition Using Entire Disk

When finished, press Q. Any changes will be saved in sysinstall(8), but will not yet be written to disk.

The next menu provides the option to install a boot manager. In general, install the FreeBSD boot manager if:

If FreeBSD is going to be the only operating system on this machine, installed on the first hard disk, then the Standard boot manager will suffice. Choose None if using a third-party boot manager capable of booting FreeBSD.

Make a selection and press Enter.

Figure 3.16. Sysinstall Boot Manager Menu

The help screen, reached by pressing F1, discusses the problems that can be encountered when trying to share the hard disk between operating systems.

If there is more than one drive, it will return to the Select Drives screen after the boot manager selection. To install FreeBSD on to more than one disk, select another disk and repeat the slice process using FDisk.

Figure 3.17. Exit Select Drive

Use Tab to toggle between the last drive selected, [ OK ], and [ Cancel ].

Press Tab once to toggle to [ OK ], then press Enter to continue with the installation.

Next, create some partitions inside each slice. Remember that each partition is lettered, from a through to h, and that partitions b, c, and d have conventional meanings that should be adhered to.

Certain applications can benefit from particular partition schemes, especially when laying out partitions across more than one disk. However, for a first FreeBSD installation, do not give too much thought to how to partition the disk. It is more important to install FreeBSD and start learning how to use it. You can always re-install FreeBSD to change the partition scheme after becoming more familiar with the operating system.

The following scheme features four partitions: one for swap space and three for filesystems.

If installing FreeBSD on to more than one disk, create partitions in the other configured slices. The easiest way to do this is to create two partitions on each disk, one for the swap space, and one for a filesystem.

Having chosen the partition layout, create it using sysinstall(8).

Press Enter to start the FreeBSD partition editor, called Disklabel.

Figure 3.18, “Sysinstall Disklabel Editor” shows the display when Disklabel starts. The display is divided into three sections.

The first few lines show the name of the disk being worked on and the slice that contains the partitions to create. At this point, Disklabel calls this the Partition name rather than slice name. This display also shows the amount of free space within the slice; that is, space that was set aside in the slice, but that has not yet been assigned to a partition.

The middle of the display shows the partitions that have been created, the name of the filesystem that each partition contains, their size, and some options pertaining to the creation of the filesystem.

The bottom third of the screen shows the keystrokes that are valid in Disklabel.

Figure 3.18. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor

Disklabel can automatically create partitions and assign them default sizes. The default sizes are calculated with the help of an internal partition sizing algorithm based on the disk size. Press A to see a display similar to that shown in Figure 3.19, “Sysinstall Disklabel Editor with Auto Defaults”. Depending on the size of the disk, the defaults may or may not be appropriate.

Figure 3.19. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor with Auto Defaults

To replace the default partitions, use the arrow keys to select the first partition and press D to delete it. Repeat this to delete all the suggested partitions.

To create the first partition, a, mounted as /, make sure the proper disk slice at the top of the screen is selected and press C. A dialog box will appear, prompting for the size of the new partition, as shown in Figure 3.20, “Free Space for Root Partition”. The size can be entered as the number of disk blocks to use or as a number followed by either M for megabytes, G for gigabytes, or C for cylinders.

Figure 3.20. Free Space for Root Partition

The default size shown will create a partition that takes up the rest of the slice. If using the partition sizes described in the earlier example, delete the existing figure using Backspace, and then type in 512M, as shown in Figure 3.21, “Edit Root Partition Size”. Then press [ OK ].

Figure 3.21. Edit Root Partition Size

After choosing the partition's size, the installer will ask whether this partition will contain a filesystem or swap space. The dialog box is shown in Figure 3.22, “Choose the Root Partition Type”. This first partition will contain a filesystem, so check that FS is selected and press Enter.

Figure 3.22. Choose the Root Partition Type

Finally, tell Disklabel where the filesystem will be mounted. The dialog box is shown in Figure 3.23, “Choose the Root Mount Point”. Type /, and then press Enter.

Figure 3.23. Choose the Root Mount Point

The display will then update to show the newly created partition. Repeat this procedure for the other partitions. When creating the swap partition, it will not prompt for the filesystem mount point. When creating the final partition, /usr, leave the suggested size as is to use the rest of the slice.

The final FreeBSD DiskLabel Editor screen will appear similar to Figure 3.24, “Sysinstall Disklabel Editor”, although the values chosen may be different. Press Q to finish.

Figure 3.24. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor

Deciding which distribution set to install will depend largely on the intended use of the system and the amount of disk space available. The predefined options range from installing the smallest possible configuration to everything. Those who are new to UNIX® or FreeBSD should select one of these canned options. Customizing a distribution set is typically for the more experienced user.

Press F1 for more information on the distribution set options and what they contain. When finished reviewing the help, press Enter to return to the Select Distributions Menu.

If a graphical user interface is desired, the configuration of Xorg and selection of a default desktop must be done after the installation of FreeBSD. More information regarding the installation and configuration of a Xorg can be found in Chapter 6, The X Window System.

If compiling a custom kernel is anticipated, select an option which includes the source code. For more information on why a custom kernel should be built or how to build a custom kernel, see Chapter 9, Configuring the FreeBSD Kernel.

The most versatile system is one that includes everything. If there is adequate disk space, select All, as shown in Figure 3.25, “Choose Distributions”, by using the arrow keys and pressing Enter. If there is a concern about disk space, consider using an option that is more suitable for the situation. Do not fret over the perfect choice, as other distributions can be added after installation.

Figure 3.25. Choose Distributions

After selecting the desired distribution, an opportunity to install the FreeBSD Ports Collection is presented. The Ports Collection is an easy and convenient way to install software as it provides a collection of files that automate the downloading, compiling, and installation of third-party software packages. Chapter 5, Installing Applications: Packages and Ports discusses how to use the Ports Collection.

The installation program does not check to see if you have adequate space. Select this option only if you have adequate hard disk space. As of FreeBSD 9.1, the FreeBSD Ports Collection takes up about 500 MB of disk space. You can safely assume a larger value for more recent versions of FreeBSD.

Select [ Yes ] with the arrow keys to install the Ports Collection or [ No ] to skip this option. Press Enter to continue. The Choose Distributions menu will redisplay.

Figure 3.26. Confirm Distributions

Once satisfied with the options, select Exit with the arrow keys, ensure that [ OK ] is highlighted, and press Enter to continue.

If PPP was previously configured for an FTP install, this screen will not display and can be configured after boot as described above.

For detailed information on Local Area Networks and configuring FreeBSD as a gateway/router refer to the Advanced Networking chapter.

To configure a network device, select [ Yes ] and press Enter. Otherwise, select [ No ] to continue.

Figure 3.28. Selecting an Ethernet Device

Select the interface to be configured with the arrow keys and press Enter.

In this private local area network, the current Internet type protocol (IPv4) was sufficient and [ No ] was selected with the arrow keys and Enter pressed.

If connected to an existing IPv6 network with an RA server, choose [ Yes ] and press Enter. It will take several seconds to scan for RA servers.

If Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP) is not required, select [ No ] with the arrow keys and press Enter.

Selecting [ Yes ] will execute dhclient(8) and, if successful, will fill in the network configuration information automatically. Refer to Section 29.6, “Automatic Network Configuration (DHCP)” for more information.

The following Network Configuration screen shows the configuration of the Ethernet device for a system that will act as the gateway for a Local Area Network.

Figure 3.29. Set Network Configuration for ed0

Use Tab to select the information fields and fill in appropriate information:

Use Tab to select [ OK ] when finished and press Enter.

Choosing [ Yes ] and pressing Enter will bring the machine up on the network so it is ready for use. However, this does not accomplish much during installation, since the machine still needs to be rebooted.

If the machine will be acting as the gateway for a local area network and forwarding packets between other machines, select [ Yes ] and press Enter. If the machine is a node on a network, select [ No ] and press Enter to continue.

If [ No ] is selected, various services will not be enabled. These services can be enabled after installation by editing /etc/inetd.conf with a text editor. See Section 29.2.1, “Overview” for more information.

Otherwise, select [ Yes ] to configure these services during install. An additional confirmation will display:

Select [ Yes ] to continue.

Selecting [ Yes ] allows services to be enabled by deleting the # at the beginning of the lines representing those services.

Figure 3.30. Editing inetd.conf

Once the edits are complete, press Esc to display a menu which will exit the editor and save the changes.

Selecting [ Yes ] will enable sshd(8), the daemon for OpenSSH. This allows secure remote access to the machine. For more information about OpenSSH, see Section 15.10, “OpenSSH”.

The Network File System (NFS) allows sharing of files across a network. A machine can be configured as a server, a client, or both. Refer to Section 29.3, “Network File System (NFS)” for more information.

3.10.6.1. NFS Server

User Confirmation Requested Do you want to configure this machine as an NFS server? Yes [ No ]

If there is no need for a NFS server, select [ No ] and press Enter.

If [ Yes ] is chosen, a message will pop-up indicating that /etc/exports must be created.

Message Operating as an NFS server means that you must first configure an /etc/exports file to indicate which hosts are allowed certain kinds of access to your local filesystems. Press [Enter] now to invoke an editor on /etc/exports [ OK ]

Press Enter to continue. A text editor will start, allowing /etc/exports to be edited.

Figure 3.33. Editing exports

Use the instructions to add the exported filesystems. Note the file name location at the bottom of the editor screen.

Press Esc and a pop-up menu will default to a) leave editor. Press Enter to exit and continue.

There are several options available to customize the system console.

To view and configure the options, select [ Yes ] and press Enter.

Figure 3.34. System Console Configuration Options

A commonly used option is the screen saver. Use the arrow keys to select Saver and then press Enter.

Figure 3.35. Screen Saver Options

Select the desired screen saver using the arrow keys and then press Enter. The System Console Configuration menu will redisplay.

The default time interval is 300 seconds. To change the time interval, select Saver again. At the Screen Saver Options menu, select Timeout using the arrow keys and press Enter. A pop-up menu will appear:

Figure 3.36. Screen Saver Timeout

The value can be changed, then select [ OK ] and press Enter to return to the System Console Configuration menu.

Figure 3.37. System Console Configuration Exit

Select Exit and press Enter to continue with the post-installation configuration.

Setting the time zone allows the system to automatically correct for any regional time changes and perform other time zone related functions properly.

The example shown is for a machine located in the Eastern time zone of the United States. The selections will vary according to the geographic location.

Select [ Yes ] and press Enter to set the time zone.

Select [ Yes ] or [ No ] according to how the machine's clock is configured, then press Enter.

Figure 3.38. Select the Region

The appropriate region is selected using the arrow keys and then pressing Enter.

Figure 3.39. Select the Country

Select the appropriate country using the arrow keys and press Enter.

Figure 3.40. Select the Time Zone

The appropriate time zone is selected using the arrow keys and pressing Enter.

Confirm that the abbreviation for the time zone is correct. If it looks okay, press Enter to continue with the post-installation configuration.

This option allows cut and paste in the console and user programs using a 3-button mouse. If using a 2-button mouse, refer to moused(8) for details on emulating the 3-button style. This example depicts a non-USB mouse configuration:

Select [ Yes ] for a PS/2, serial, or bus mouse, or [ No ] for a USB mouse, then press Enter.

Figure 3.41. Select Mouse Protocol Type

Use the arrow keys to select Type and press Enter.

Figure 3.42. Set Mouse Protocol

The mouse used in this example is a PS/2 type, so the default Auto is appropriate. To change the mouse protocol, use the arrow keys to select another option. Ensure that [ OK ] is highlighted and press Enter to exit this menu.

Figure 3.43. Configure Mouse Port

Use the arrow keys to select Port and press Enter.

Figure 3.44. Setting the Mouse Port

This system had a PS/2 mouse, so the default PS/2 is appropriate. To change the port, use the arrow keys and then press Enter.

Figure 3.45. Enable the Mouse Daemon

Last, use the arrow keys to select Enable, and press Enter to enable and test the mouse daemon.

Figure 3.46. Test the Mouse Daemon

Move the mouse around the screen to verify that the cursor responds properly. If it does, select [ Yes ] and press Enter. If not, the mouse has not been configured correctly. Select [ No ] and try using different configuration options.

Select Exit with the arrow keys and press Enter to continue with the post-installation configuration.

Packages are pre-compiled binaries and are a convenient way to install software.

Installation of one package is shown for purposes of illustration. Additional packages can also be added at this time if desired. After installation, sysinstall(8) can be used to add additional packages.

Select [ Yes ] and press Enter to be presented with the Package Selection screens:

Figure 3.47. Select Package Category

Only packages on the current installation media are available for installation at any given time.

All packages available will be displayed if All is selected. Otherwise, select a particular category. Highlight the selection with the arrow keys and press Enter.

A menu will display showing all the packages available for the selection made:

Figure 3.48. Select Packages

The bash shell is shown as selected. Select as many packages as desired by highlighting the package and pressing Space. A short description of each package will appear in the lower left corner of the screen.

Press Tab to toggle between the last selected package, [ OK ], and [ Cancel ].

Once finished marking the packages for installation, press Tab once to toggle to [ OK ] and press Enter to return to the Package Selection menu.

The left and right arrow keys will also toggle between [ OK ] and [ Cancel ]. This method can also be used to select [ OK ] and press Enter to return to the Package Selection menu.

Figure 3.49. Install Packages

Use the Tab and arrow keys to select [ Install ] and press Enter to see the installation confirmation message:

Figure 3.50. Confirm Package Installation

Select [ OK ] and press Enter to start the package installation. Installation messages will appear until all of the installations have completed. Make note if there are any error messages.

The final configuration continues after packages are installed. If no packages are selected, select Install to return to the final configuration.

Add at least one user during the installation so that the system can be used without logging in as root. The root partition is generally small and running applications as root can quickly fill it. A bigger danger is noted below:

Select [ Yes ] and press Enter to continue with adding a user.

Figure 3.51. Select User

Select User with the arrow keys and press Enter.

Figure 3.52. Add User Information

The following descriptions will appear in the lower part of the screen as the items are selected with Tab to assist with entering the required information:

In this example, the login shell was changed from /bin/sh to /usr/local/bin/bash to use the bash shell that was previously installed as a package. Do not use a shell that does not exist or the user will not be able to login. The most common shell used in FreeBSD is the C shell, /bin/tcsh.

The user was also added to the wheel group to be able to become a superuser with root privileges.

Once satisfied, press [ OK ] and the User and Group Management menu will redisplay:

Figure 3.53. Exit User and Group Management

Groups can also be added at this time. Otherwise, this menu may be accessed using sysinstall(8) at a later time.

When finished adding users, select Exit with the arrow keys and press Enter to continue the installation.

Press Enter to set the root password.

The password will need to be typed in twice correctly. Do not forget this password. Notice that the typed password is not echoed, nor are asterisks displayed.

The installation will continue after the password is successfully entered.

A message will ask if configuration is complete:

Select [ No ] with the arrow keys and press Enter to return to the Main Installation Menu.

Figure 3.54. Exit Install

Select [X Exit Install] with the arrow keys and press Enter. The installer will prompt to confirm exiting the installation:

Select [ Yes ]. If booting from the CDROM drive, the following message will remind you to remove the disk:

The CDROM drive is locked until the machine starts to reboot, then the disk can quickly be removed from the drive. Press [ OK ] to reboot.

The system will reboot so watch for any error messages that may appear, see Section 3.10.15, “FreeBSD Bootup” for more details.

Configuring network services can be a daunting task for users that lack previous knowledge in this area. Since networking and the Internet are critical to all modern operating systems, it is useful to have some understanding of FreeBSD's extensive networking capabilities.

Network services are programs that accept input from anywhere on the network. Since there have been cases where bugs in network services have been exploited by attackers, it is important to only enable needed network services. If in doubt, do not enable a network service until it is needed. Services can be enabled with sysinstall(8) or by editing /etc/rc.conf.

Selecting the Networking option will display a menu similar to the one below:

Figure 3.55. Network Configuration Upper-level

The first option, Interfaces, is covered in Section 3.10.1, “Network Device Configuration”.

Selecting the AMD option adds support for amd(8). This is usually used in conjunction with NFS for automatically mounting remote filesystems.

Next is the AMD Flags option. When selected, a menu will pop up where specific AMD flags can be entered. The menu already contains a set of default options:

-a sets the default mount location which is specified here as /.amd_mnt. -l specifies the default log; however, when syslogd(8) is used, all log activity will be sent to the system log daemon. /host is used to mount an exported file system from a remote host, while /net is used to mount an exported filesystem from an IP address. The default options for AMD exports are defined in /etc/amd.map.

The Anon FTP option permits anonymous FTP connections. Select this option to make this machine an anonymous FTP server. Be aware of the security risks involved with this option. Another menu will be displayed to explain the security risks and configuration in depth.

The Gateway menu will configure the machine to be a gateway. This menu can also be used to unset the Gateway option if it was accidentally selected during installation.

The Inetd option can be used to configure or completely disable inetd(8).

The Mail option is used to configure the system's default Mail Transfer Agent (MTA). Selecting this option will bring up the following menu:

Figure 3.56. Select a Default MTA

This menu offers a choice as to which MTA to install and set as the default. An MTA is a mail server which delivers email to users on the system or the Internet.

Select Sendmail to install Sendmail as the default MTA. Select Sendmail local to set Sendmail as the default MTA, but disable its ability to receive incoming email from the Internet. The other options, Postfix and Exim, provide alternatives to Sendmail.

The next menu after the MTA menu is NFS client. This menu is used to configure the system to communicate with a NFS server which in turn is used to make filesystems available to other machines on the network over the NFS protocol. See Section 29.3, “Network File System (NFS)” for more information about client and server configuration.

Below that option is the NFS server option, for setting the system up as an NFS server. This adds the required information to start up the Remote Procedure Call RPC services. RPC is used to coordinate connections between hosts and programs.

Next in line is the Ntpdate option, which deals with time synchronization. When selected, a menu like the one below shows up:

Figure 3.57. Ntpdate Configuration

From this menu, select the server which is geographically closest. This will make the time synchronization more accurate as a farther server may have more connection latency.

The next option is the PCNFSD selection. This option will install the net/pcnfsd package from the Ports Collection. This is a useful utility which provides NFS authentication services for systems which are unable to provide their own, such as Microsoft's MS-DOS® operating system.

Now, scroll down a bit to see the other options:

Figure 3.58. Network Configuration Lower-level

RPC. communication between NFS servers and clients is managed by rpcbind(8) which is required for NFS servers to operate correctly. Status monitoring is provided by rpc.statd(8) and the reported status is usually held in /var/db/statd.status. The next option is for rpc.lockd(8) which provides file locking services. This is usually used with rpc.statd(8) to monitor which hosts are requesting locks and how frequently they request them. While these last two options are useful for debugging, they are not required for NFS servers and clients to operate correctly.

The next menu, Routed, configures the routing daemon. routed(8), manages network routing tables, discovers multicast routers, and supplies a copy of the routing tables to any physically connected host on the network upon request. This is mainly used for machines which act as a gateway for the local network. If selected, a menu will request the default location of the utility. To accept the default location, press Enter. Yet another menu will ask for the flags to pass to routed(8). The default of -q should appear on the screen.

The next menu, Rwhod, starts rwhod(8) during system initialization. This utility broadcasts system messages across the network periodically, or collects them when in “consumer” mode. More information can be found in ruptime(1) and rwho(1).

The next to last option in the list is for sshd(8), the secure shell server for OpenSSH. It is highly recommended over the standard telnetd(8) and ftpd(8) servers as it is used to create a secure, encrypted connection from one host to another.

The final option is TCP Extensions which are defined in RFC 1323 and RFC 1644. While on many hosts this can speed up connections, it can also cause some connections to be dropped. It is not recommended for servers, but may be beneficial for stand alone machines.

Once the network services are configured, scroll up to the very top item which is X Exit and continue on to the next configuration item or simply exit sysinstall(8) by selecting X Exit twice then [X Exit Install].

It is important to properly shutdown the operating system. Do not just turn off the power. First, become the superuser using su(1) and entering the root password. This will work only if the user is a member of wheel. Otherwise, login as root. To shutdown the system, type shutdown -h now.

It is safe to turn off the power after the shutdown command has been issued and the message “Please press any key to reboot” appears. If any key is pressed instead of turning off the power switch, the system will reboot.

The Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination can also be used to reboot the system; however, this is not recommended.

Due to various limitations of the PC architecture, it is impossible for device probing to be 100% reliable. However, there are a few things to try if it fails.

Check the Hardware Notes document for the version of FreeBSD to make sure the hardware is supported.

If the hardware is supported but still experiences lock-ups or other problems, build a custom kernel to add in support for devices which are not present in the GENERIC kernel. The default kernel assumes that most hardware devices are in their factory default configuration in terms of IRQs, I/O addresses, and DMA channels. If the hardware has been reconfigured, create a custom kernel configuration file and recompile to tell FreeBSD where to find things.

It is also possible that a probe for a device not present will cause a later probe for another device that is present to fail. In that case, the probes for the conflicting driver(s) should be disabled.

At this time, FreeBSD does not support file systems compressed with the Double Space™ application. Therefore the file system will need to be uncompressed before FreeBSD can access the data. This can be done by running the Compression Agent located in the Start> Programs > System Tools menu.

FreeBSD can support MS-DOS® file systems (sometimes called FAT file systems). The mount_msdosfs(8) command grafts such file systems onto the existing directory hierarchy, allowing the file system's contents to be accessed. The mount_msdosfs(8) program is not usually invoked directly; instead, it is called by the system through a line in /etc/fstab or by using mount(8) with the appropriate parameters.

A typical line in /etc/fstab is:

A typical call to mount(8) for a FAT filesystem looks like:

In this example, the FAT filesystem is located on the first partition of the primary hard disk. The output from dmesg(8) and mount(8) should produce enough information to give an idea of the partition layout.

NTFS partitions can also be mounted in a similar manner using mount_ntfs(8).

This type of installation is called a “headless install” because the machine to be installed does not have either an attached monitor or a VGA output. This type of installation is possible using a serial console, another machine which acts as the main display and keyboard. To do this, follow the steps to create an installation USB stick, explained in Section 3.3.7, “Prepare the Boot Media”, or download the correct installation ISO image as described in Section 3.13.1, “Creating an Installation ISO”.

To modify the installation media to boot into a serial console, follow these steps. If using a CD/DVD media, skip the first step):

The headless machine can now be controlled using cu(1). It will load the kernel and then dispaly a selection of which type of terminal to use. Select the FreeBSD color console and proceed with the installation.

As part of each release, the FreeBSD Project provides ISO images for each supported architecture. These images can be written (“burned”) to CD or DVD media using a burning application, and then used to install FreeBSD. If a CD/DVD writer is available, this is the easiest way to install FreeBSD.

FreeBSD discs are laid out in the same way as the FTP site. This makes it easy to create a local FTP site that can be used by other machines on a network to install FreeBSD.

Anyone with network connectivity to the machine can now chose a media type of FTP and type in ftp://your machine after picking “Other” in the FTP sites menu during the install.

To prepare for an installation from a Windows® partition, copy the files from the distribution into a directory in the root directory of the partition, such as c:\freebsd. Since the directory structure must be reproduced, it is recommended to use robocopy when copying from a CD/DVD. For example, to prepare for a minimal installation of FreeBSD:

This example assumes that C: has enough free space and E: is where the CD/DVD is mounted.

Alternatively, download the distribution from ftp.FreeBSD.org. Each distribution is in its own directory; for example, the base distribution can be found in the 8.4/base/ directory.

Copy the distributions to install from a Windows® partition to c:\freebsd. Both the base and kernel distributions are needed for the most minimal installation.

There are three types of network installations available: Ethernet, PPP, and PLIP.

For the fastest possible network installation, use an Ethernet adapter. FreeBSD supports most common Ethernet cards. A list of supported cards is provided in the Hardware Notes for each release of FreeBSD. If using a supported PCMCIA Ethernet card, be sure that it is plugged in before the system is powered on as FreeBSD does not support hot insertion of PCMCIA cards during installation.

Make note of the system's IP address, subnet mask, hostname, default gateway address, and DNS server addresses if these values are statically assigned. If installing by FTP through a HTTP proxy, make note of the proxy's address. If you do not know these values, ask the system administrator or ISP before trying this type of installation.

If using a dialup modem, have the service provider's PPP information handy as it is needed early in the installation process.

If PAP or CHAP are used to connect to the ISP without using a script, type dial at the FreeBSD ppp prompt. Otherwise, know how to dial the ISP using the “AT commands” specific to the modem, as the PPP dialer provides only a simple terminal emulator. Refer to Section 27.2, “Using User PPP” and ../../../../doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/ppp.html for further information. Logging can be directed to the screen using set log local ....

If a hard-wired connection to another FreeBSD machine is available, the installation can occur over a null-modem parallel port cable. The data rate over the parallel port is higher than what is typically possible over a serial line.